Hollywood Lighting Trends from the Golden Globes

When it comes to wondering what the Hollywood lighting trends will be for the year to come, the Golden Globes are a good place to look for clues. As the first awards show of the Hollywood season, those clues offered this year would be calmer color palettes, modernistic overtones, and retro undertones. Here are two of the Golden Globes events at which we highlighted these possible 2017 trends as put forth by two groundbreaking designers.

HBO After Party
Sculpted Calm

A calmer color palette mixed with accents of metal sculpture could be found at HBO’s after party. Once again, HBO’s Cindy Tenner worked with longtime design partner Billy Butchkavitz on the event which took over the Beverly Hilton’s Aqua Star Pool and Circa 55 Restaurant and Trader Vic’s bar areas. Butchkavitz, known for his over-the-top and detail-rich designs, told BizBash.com that this year’s event was, “about as clean and minimalist as Billy Butchkavitz can get, which still means lots of vibrant patterns and textures but with a much calmer color palette.” That color palette included champagne, gray, khaki, and silver.

The centerpiece of the event design was a metal sculpture Butchkavitz titled the “Shimmering Pavilion” and floated in the Aqua Star Pool. Other floating decor pieces were installed in the exposed section of pool surrounding the pavilion. To enhance the pavilion and its shimmer, we surrounded it on two sides with 23 lekos and gobo rotators installed adjacent to the drape treatment. These added streaks of animated light making the pavilion a truly eye-catching design element.

This was the 11th year for this team to come together and as with other years, we worked with Bart Kresa who created the event’s animated 3-D projections, while we provided the ambient lighting, textured lighting projections overall and the perimeter lighting treatments. Special Event Contractors built the sub floors and pool installation, plus the party’s 24-foot high and 180-foot-long perimeter wall. Butchkavitz worked with his brother, Brian Butchkavitz, on the textiles, custom carpet, tabletop decor, custom furniture, and other details.

Photos: Gabor Ekecs

In Style + Warner Bros. After Party
Retro Techno

At the InStyle and Warner Bros. after-party, producer JOWY Productions worked with designer Thomas Ford of Tom Ford Designs. As with HBO’s event, the main event and structure of was installed over water; a tent that completely covered the hotel fountain transformed the area into what was billed as “Matrix Glam.” The color palette of peacock blue, plum, and fuchsia included design elements that combined modern technology with seventies’ retro opulence.

The chandelier, custom designed for the event from Ford’s vision, was inspired from the films Purple Rain and The Matrix. The 20-foot-wide metallic gold structure also included 500 feet of LED neon. To transform the entire environment around this centerpiece, we created a tech-inspired perimeter lighting treatment using backdrops with backlighted cutouts inspired by computer boards. The lighting here was sequenced to change color throughout the event … cool in the beginning and warmer as the event heated up.

Clearly, when it comes to Hollywood lighting trends for 2017, these two award after-parties offer several golden ideas!